UPDATED: Trayvon

Here we are, again.

I have been fascinated, mostly, by the way this incident, in particular, has made public "the talk."

One piece by a father, talking to his son, giving his twelve year old "the talk" years earlier that he had hoped would be necessary.

Another by a mother, with her sons, recalling with the reporter about how she prepared them "for a world that might view them with suspicion."

You might also want to hear what the guys had to say in The Barbershop.

If we were living in a post-racial world, black dads and moms wouldn't have to give "the talk" -- they would just expect their children to behave in the world as they had been taught -- and that the world around them would be willing to accept them as equals with the same respect all people would want for their children.

If nothing else, this tragic event should teach us all something about criminalizing clothing ... if not get us to think more clearly about how institutionalized racism works ... it doesn't matter what color the shooter was ... he shot at the young man because he felt justified in the fear and that was all based on racism.

UPDATE: After I wrote and published this, "police sources" -- of course, unnamed, decided to come forward with "details" of the altercation that took place between Martin and Zimmerman.  Missing, however, from this account, is the fact that Zimmerman was following Martin without provocation.  He was following Martin because of the color of his skin and the clothing he was wearing.  It also conveniently leaves out the fact that REAL law enforcement advised Zimmerman not to follow, not to get out of his car.  Either one of those actions would have resulted in avoiding the altercation.  Also left out of this account is the condition of Martin's body. This article is complete APOLOGIST for Zimmerman with none of the details about his repeated calls to police about young Black men, or about the altercation Zimmerman had with police himself, etc... that is, if you just read this piece, you would side with Zimmerman.  Very bad journalism.

Interesting picture: 

here is the story that came with it.

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In other news ...

Scott Simon on the atheists.  Would have been an excellent rally to attend.

Super interesting story about using food to pass on cultural knowledge ... or recapture it, as the case may be.

The NYTimes printed this article -- and then it got reprinted by the AP all over, about the benefits of bilingualism. Pretty timely for me last week as I listened to Dr. Lily Wong Fillmore discuss the work she has been doing in the NY Public Schools and will also be doing here in Albuquerque soon,

This is a chilling story ... I share it only because these are the kinds of stories we should all have to confront so that we know just how our society is behaving...

It's Monday, so I am restarting the being healthy (also lose weight) campaign.  Here is an article about the changes taking place in some corner markets in LA -- for the better -- offering HEALTHY CHOICES!

UPDATE:  Some of the best treatment of the story of This American Life's Retraction.